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Processes
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Research on Catalyst and Reaction Kinetics in Fossil Fuel Refining,...
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Research on Catalyst and Reaction Kinetics in Fossil Fuel Refining, Biofuels, Green Hydrogen and Petrochemicals

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Chemical Processes and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 1556

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Antonio S. Araujo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Chemistry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, Natal 59078-970, RN, Brazil
Interests: nanoporous silica; hydrothermal synthesis; mechanochemisty; thermal analysis; catalysis; petroleum and petrochemistry
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Florival R. Carvalho

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife 50670-901, PE, Brazil
Interests: modeling and simulation; fossil fuels; petrochemical processes; kinetic modeling; biorefining; catalytic cracking

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the 20th century, especially in the 90s, significant progress was made in refining fossil fuel and in renewable energies. Consequently, many remarkable developments have ensued regarding research on catalysis and kinetics in the oil, biorefineries and petrochemical industries. These efforts were carried out in an attempt to outline the energy and environmental context for the coming decades with the decarbonization of energy carriers, which will govern the trend in industrial processes. However, oil will still remain a principal source of liquid fuels and petrochemicals for a long time, whereas biofuels and green hydrogen will be destined to play an important role as energy carriers. Within this framework, studies in kinetics and catalysis will be crucial concerning the technical, energetic and economic development of fossil fuels—jointly with biofuels, petrochemicals and green hydrogen—in the foreseeable future.

In this context, this Special Issue proposal of Processes, titled “Research on Catalyst and Reaction Kinetics in Fossil Fuel Refining, Biofuels, Green Hydrogen and Petrochemicals”, seeks high-quality works focusing on new trends and progress for obtaining petrochemicals, as well as fossil and renewable fuels, in a sustainable and economic way whilst considering the general aspects in kinetics for catalytic applications. Topics include the following: fundamentals of kinetics and catalysis for the development of refining and petrochemical industries; processes for aromatization, alkylation and bifunctional catalysis; catalyst deactivation and regeneration; fluid catalytic cracking; hydrocracking; hydrotreating; and catalytic distillation. In addition of these topics, research on the catalysis and kinetics of biofuels; green hydrogen; and catalytic recycling of polymers and biomass will be considered. 

Prof. Dr. Antonio S. Araujo
Guest Editor
Prof. Dr. Florival R. Carvalho
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • kinetics and catalysis for oil refining
  • model-free kinetics
  • petrochemistry
  • fluid catalytic cracking
  • hydrocracking processes
  • hydrotreating processes: HDS, HDN, HDS, and HDO
  • catalyst deactivation and regeneration
  • biofuels and biorefinery
  • catalytic recycling of polymers and biomass
  • green hydrogen

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 5662 KiB  
Article
Characterization of the Lower Limit of CH4 Explosion in Different Atmospheres over a Wide Temperature Range
by Jida Zhang, Qinghe Bao, Junhui Yang, Haibin Guan, Zhongcheng Ma, Bari Wulan and Sheng Li
Processes 2025, 13(5), 1608; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13051608 - 21 May 2025
Viewed by 455
Abstract
This study conducted systematic experimental research on methane safety issues in industrial production environments, with a particular focus on the impacts of high-temperature conditions and complex atmospheres on methane explosion characteristics. The research team designed and constructed a dedicated combustible gas explosion experimental [...] Read more.
This study conducted systematic experimental research on methane safety issues in industrial production environments, with a particular focus on the impacts of high-temperature conditions and complex atmospheres on methane explosion characteristics. The research team designed and constructed a dedicated combustible gas explosion experimental setup, performing in-depth experimental analyses across a broad temperature range from 25 °C to 600 °C. The results demonstrate that elevated temperatures significantly reduced the methane’s lower explosion limit (LEL), with the LEL decreasing to approximately 40% of its room-temperature value at 600 °C. The investigation systematically examined the influence mechanisms of common industrial atmospheric components, including carbon dioxide (CO2), ammonia (NH3), oxygen (O2), and water vapor (H2O) on methane explosion behavior. Key findings reveal that CO2 exhibited notable suppression effects, increasing methane’s LEL by approximately 15% per 10% increment in CO2 concentration. NH3 demonstrated dual mechanisms, promoting methane explosions at low concentrations (<5%) while inhibiting them at higher concentrations. Increased O2 concentration significantly expanded the methane’s explosive range, with the LEL decreasing by about 22% when O2 concentration increased from 21% to 30%. Water vapor manifested differentiated impacts depending on temperature regimes, primarily elevating LEL through dilution effects below 200 °C while reducing LEL via radical reaction promotion above 400 °C. Furthermore, this study reveals synergistic coupling effects between temperature and gas components—for instance, CO2’s suppression efficacy weakened under high temperatures, whereas NH3’s promotion effect intensified. These discoveries provide scientific foundations for formulating industrial safety standards, designing explosion-proof equipment, and conducting risk assessments in production processes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Catalyst and Reaction Kinetics in Fossil Fuel Refining, Biofuels, Green Hydrogen and Petrochemicals)
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Review

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48 pages, 1341 KiB  
Review
Evaluation of Feedstock Characteristics Determined by Different Methods and Their Relationships to the Crackability of Petroleum, Vegetable, Biomass, and Waste-Derived Oils Used as Feedstocks for Fluid Catalytic Cracking: A Systematic Review
by Dicho Stratiev
Processes 2025, 13(7), 2169; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr13072169 - 7 Jul 2025
Viewed by 372
Abstract
It has been proven that the performance of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC), as the most important oil refining process for converting low-value heavy oils into high-value transportation fuels, light olefins, and feedstocks for petrochemicals, depends strongly on the quality of the feedstock. For [...] Read more.
It has been proven that the performance of fluid catalytic cracking (FCC), as the most important oil refining process for converting low-value heavy oils into high-value transportation fuels, light olefins, and feedstocks for petrochemicals, depends strongly on the quality of the feedstock. For this reason, characterization of feedstocks and their relationships to FCC performance are issues deserving special attention. This study systematically reviews various publications dealing with the influence of feedstock characteristics on FCC performance, with the aim of identifying the best characteristic descriptors allowing prediction of FCC feedstock cracking capability. These characteristics were obtained by mass spectrometry, SARA analysis, elemental analysis, and various empirical methods. This study also reviews published research dedicated to the catalytic cracking of biomass and waste oils, as well as blends of petroleum-derived feedstocks with sustainable oils, with the aim of searching for quantitative relationships allowing prediction of FCC performance during co-processing. Correlation analysis of the various FCC feed characteristics was carried out, and regression techniques were used to develop correlations predicting the conversion at maximum gasoline yield and that obtained under constant operating conditions. Artificial neural network (ANN) analysis and nonlinear regression techniques were applied to predict FCC conversion from feed characteristics at maximum gasoline yield, with the aim of distinguishing which technique provided the more accurate model. It was found that the correlation developed in this work based on the empirically determined aromatic carbon content according to the n-d-M method and the hydrogen content calculated via the Dhulesia correlation demonstrated highly accurate calculation of conversion at maximum gasoline yield (standard error of 1.3%) compared with that based on the gasoline precursor content determined by mass spectrometry (standard error of 1.5%). Using other data from 88 FCC feedstocks characterized by hydrogen content, saturates, aromatics, and polars contents to develop the ANN model and the nonlinear regression model, it was found that the ANN model demonstrated more accurate prediction of conversion at maximum gasoline yield, with a standard error of 1.4% versus 2.3% for the nonlinear regression model. During the co-processing of petroleum-derived feedstocks with sustainable oils, it was observed that FCC conversion and yields may obey the linear mixing rule or synergism, leading to higher yields of desirable products than those calculated according to the linear mixing rule. The exact reason for this observation has not yet been thoroughly investigated. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Catalyst and Reaction Kinetics in Fossil Fuel Refining, Biofuels, Green Hydrogen and Petrochemicals)
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